Efforts to reproduce paintings as true to the original as possible have been known since the early days of multi-color printing. Today, the ‘dressing’ of refined art prints, as a specialized area, has reached a never anticipated high level.
A process for the imitation of paintings is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,117,795, wherein a canvas is initially provided with a relief-type surface structure. At the locations where in accordance with the original the picture or the colors are to lie higher, the canvas is covered with a thick layer of a settable substance, for example, a mixture of oil and zinc oxide. In order to facilitate the application of the settable substance, a template is used which is perforated corresponding to the more elevated regions of the image. By application of a paint, which flows through the perforations onto the substratum, the regions subsequently to be covered with the settable material can be exactly determined. After the hardening of the layer, the image is transferred. This process is expensive and insufficiently reflects the brush and palette knife strokes of the original.
Furthermore, a process for the manufacture of images with a smooth surface is known from DE 31 02 409 C2. A layer of paint of white color mixed with chalk is thereby applied onto a canvas provided with adhesive, which color dries under the formation of fine cracks. After a mechanical smoothing, the print color is peeled from an overlaid paper image by way of solvents and adhesive and transferred to the surface with the fine cracks. Such pictures convey an impression of age. It is a disadvantage that they have a smooth surface.